During the manufacture of hosiery, particularly socks, it is common practice to knit the hosiery in a continuous elongated tube divided by longitudinally spaced transverse knitted rings of break-away thread. This facilitates the turning and separation of each hose in turn that is required before the further processing can proceed. This preliminary step has typically been performed by simply grasping the first in-line hose in one hand and the remainder of the string in the other, everting the first hose and pulling the two apart. In the next processing step, which is generally the sewing or closing of the toe, the hosiery is thus separated and is inside-out for the seamstress.
Prior art devices using a tubular form for inspecting, turning and separating suffer one disadvantage in that the number of hose on a string to be separated is limited by the length of the machine. Lengthening of the form and machine to accommodate a greater number of hose has not been practical due to limited space available in the manufacturing plant. A long horizontal form, utilizes a large amount of costly floor space and for this reason is unacceptable.
Also, the operator of prior machines has had to be relied upon to consciously perform either through a foot pedal or a hand lever, at least one of the switching operations of the machine. This slows and fatigues the operator considerably, and thus engenders inefficiency.